CASAUBON, IsAne, a very learned critic and editor, was born at Geneva in February 1559. llis natural abi lities were good, and so great was the progress which he made under the tuition of his father, who had become minister of Crest in Dauphine, that he was scarcely nine years of age, when he could both write Latin with cor rectness, and speak it with ease. But his father being under the necessity of going from home on business for three years together, Isaac's education was neglected, and he almost potircly lost what he had acquired. When he reached his twelfth year, he again applied to his stu dies, and partly by his own exertions, partly by the oc casional assistance of his father, he began to recover his classical knowledge. This method, however, being un certain and tardy, he was sent in 1578 to Geneva, to stu dy under the professors there ; and so great was his di ligence, and so attentive were his teachers, that he soon redeemed all the time which he had formerly lost. Such was his proficiency in Greek, that Francis Pertus, the Cretan, by whose instructions he had been made ac quainted with it, thought him worthy to be his succes sor in the academical chair at the age of twenty-three ; and to that honourable situation, accordingly, he was appointed in 1582. In 1586, his father died, and shortly after lie married a daughter of the celebrated printer Henry Stephens, by whom he had twenty children. Af ter holding the professorship of Greek at Geneva for fourteen years, during which time he studied philosophy and civil law, and paid some attention to the Hebrew and the Oriental languages, he removed to Montpelier, as professor of the Greek tongue and polite literature, with a more considerable salary than he enjoyed at Ge neva. This change of situation was occasioned, not merely by the difference in his emoluments, but also by the morose temper of his father-in-law, and by his own restless disposition. At Montpelier, he was at first much esteemed, and greatly pleased; and resisted the invita tions which were given him, first by the city of Nismes, and afterwards by that of Franeker, to accept of a chair in their universities. But he soon began to be disgusted with the treatment which he received. The promises that had been held out to him were not fulfilled ; his sa lary was neither regularly nor fully paid ; and he expe rienced so much vexation from these and other causes, that he was just on the eve of returning to Geneva, when better prospects were opened up to him in another quar ter. By M. de Vicq, a man of some note at Lyons, whom he visited in 1598, he was taken to Paris, and in troduced to King Henry IV., President de Harley, Pre sident de Thou, (Thuanus,) and other persons of emi nence, who gave him a very civil reception. The king offered him a professor's place, and, after his return to Montpelier, renewed the offer by letter.
He at last resolved to go to Paris, though he was warned by M. De Vicq and Scaliger, that his expecta tions would probably be disappointed. Henry received him most graciously ; but the jealousy of the other pro fessors, and his own Protestant principles, were the oc casion of much opposition and trouble, and even pre vented him ultimately from obtaining the situation which his majesty had promised. He was, however, appointed one of the judges on the Protestant's side at the confer ence between these and the Catholics, held at Fountain bleau in 1600. And afterwards he was nominated keeper of the king's library, which gave him access to a valua ble collection of hooks, and enabled him to prosecute his literary views with great success. He had also a pen sion from the king, which was considerably augmented, in order to prevent him from yielding to the many press ing solicitations and pecuniary inducements which lie had to go to other places. Many artful and unworthy attempts were made to bring him over to the Romish faith, but these he uniformly resisted, and lived and died a Protestant. The murder of the king, which hap
pened in 1610, distressed him deeply, as it deprived him of his chief patron ; and in the same year, the conversion of his eldest son to the !Ionian Catholic religion, gave another blow to his feelings, and he felt it the more, be cause it was generally reported, and by many believed, that lie himself had contributed to this change. These afflicting. circumstances, together with the continual vexations in which lie lived at Paris, determined him to set out for England, into which country lie had been fre quently im itcd by James I. Ilc arrived there in 1610, and experienced from persons of rank and learning the kindest reception, though he !Must II has complained, that from the inferior classes of people, he met w ith more insults than he had CNC!) (IOW• at Paris in the midst of Papists. The kiln.; skewed him particular attention, took much pleasure in conversing with him, admitted him several times to his own table, presented him with a sum of money to enable him to visit Oxford and Cambridge, grunted him a pension of three hundred pounds, and no miciated hits to two prebends, one at Westminster, and the other at Canterbury. Casaubon was not ungrateful ; and he seems to have expressed his gratitude in a way most agreeable to the feelings of James, namely, by flat tering his literary vanity, and humouring his silly pre judices. In the letters which he wrote, by the direction of James, to De Thou, respecting his history, and which, it is not improbable, were inspected by the royal eye, he eulogizes the king in the most fulsome manlier for his learning and his virtue, and actually talks of him as a kind of miracle or prodigy. Ile also remonstrates with Dc Thou on that part of his history which affected the character and conduct of the king's mother, and in James's name demands satisfaction for the injuries which he had done to her reputation. This remonstrance pro duced some effect ; and by these and similar compli ances with the temper of James, Casaubon contrived at once to make his acknowledgments for past favours, and to lay a foundation for future claims. His object was not lost. So much was his majesty pleased with him, that he wrote to the queen regent of France, through whose indulgence Casaubon had been permitted to come to England, begging her to allow hint to prolong his stay in this conntry, and the royal favour seemed to pro mise him distinctions and preferment ; but a painful dis temper soon closed these flattering prospects, and put an end to his life. He died July 1, 1614, in the 55th year of his age, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His character, religious as well as literary, has been various ly represented; but there appears to be good reason for believing, that in both these views he was highly respect able. That he was a Protestant, there can be no reason able doubt, though the contrary has been insinuated, and though he entertained, along with Grotius and other emi nent men, the foolish project of forming an union be tween the Catholic and reformed churches. The probity and correctness of his moral deportment have never been disputed. Of his extensive learning, he has left a mul titude of satisfactory proofs in the various editions of Greek and Latin authors, and other works which he published in the course of his life. A large volume of his Letters was published, from which a tolerably cor rect idea, both of his temper and classical attainments, may be derived. A complete list of his writings is given in the Biog-raphia Britannica, art. CASAUBON. Besides that article, and the Letters above mentioned, (Almelo teen's Edition, containing a life of Casaubon) sec Niceron, iliemoiranour sem a l'hist. des Hom. Must. tom. xviii ; and La Vie de M. de Thou, in Durales Hist. du xvi. Siecle two vii. (I)